You Can Be A Part of Pacific Rim Uprising

The Pacific Rim Twitter account has announced a contest through which two lucky (and devoted) fans will win a spot in the upcoming Pacific Rim: Uprising. The sequel will take place 10 years after the original film’s storyline, in which a band of Jaeger pilots prevented a monster-filled apocalypse.

Because of the temporal gap between the two Pacific Rim movies, Uprising will have some new stars leading the charge. Jake Pentecost (John Boyega, who is also a producer on the film) is at Uprising‘s center: He’s the son of Stacker Pentecost (played by Idris Elba in the original film), and is poised to fend off another doomsday scenario.

In a video shared by the Pacific Rim Twitter account (see above), Boyega addresses fans, inviting them to demonstrate their love of the series for a chance to appear in Uprising. The two winners will be holograms in the film’s “Hall of Heroes”, which, according to the video, is “a memorial that shows holograms of all the greatest Jaeger pilots throughout the history of the Kaiju War.” The contest consists of sharing something that expresses serious fandom, be it a cosplay, video, tattoo, or anything else.

Uprising‘s release is only months away, but its fruition wasn’t always assured. The first movie’s director and co-writer, Guillermo del Toro, has long wanted to develop a sequel. When rumors began spreading that the sequel had been cancelled last year, del Toro stepped in to dispute them. However, del Toro wound up not directing Uprising, as he opted instead to work on The Shape of Water, a forthcoming romantic fantasy horror film. In the director’s chair in place of del Toro is Steven S. DeKnight (creator of Spartacus), who contributed to the movie’s script, and who del Toro has praised. (Guillermo del Toro had previously written a script of his own for the sequel.)

Pacific Rim has built an invested fan following, so it will be interesting to see how far people go to prove their love of the series with the sequel. Plus, it’s nice to see a film appreciate and honor its fans alongside the heroes of its imagined universe. And more broadly, with early reviews of The Shape of Water indicating that the film is exceptional, there’s potential for Pacific Rim: Uprising to end well for all involved: del Toro gets a well-received movie, the people behind Uprising get one of their own, and fans rejoice. At this point, it’s just a matter of whether or not Uprising lives up to the thrills of its predecessor.